IdiotBrewing
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- Jun 27, 2016
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Last weekend included a brew day. The Melange Lambic(ish) has been made, and initially emerged into the world more with a limping gait than a full throttle charge towards funky sour goodness. It has now been officially classed as an experiment (some might say cock-up).
I opted for a malty wort, mashed at 68 degrees C in order to get some unfermentables in there. The plan is to hit it with WLP072 French Ale for primary to get the simple sugars sorted, save the yeast for another brew, transfer to secondary with Yeast Bay Melange and then let the bugs and bacteria work over the beer until next Spring.
Here's the brewsheet...
The French Ale strain is reputedly a clean fermenter used for Bierre de Garde and the like. I have read that if fermented warm, it develops some fruity esters. As a result I decided to go a bit warm with the yeast.
On Friday afternoon I made up a starter with the WLP072 and left the stirplate running over night. The yeast had that nice bready smell, and when the sheep farmer from next door popped in to blag a free beer (his wife thinks he doesn't drink any more) he mentioned that the brewery smelled more like a bakery!
On Saturday morning I noted that the starter looked dead. There was no froth, no foam, no signs of life at all. I cranked up the speed of the stirplate and carried on with the brew day as planned.
When it came to pitching tim,e the starter still looked a little dead. Like my Uncle Stanley's manhood, no amount of agitation was going to get it working. Despite this I chucked it in the Chronical and let it do it's thing, which turned out to be nothing when I checked it on the Sunday. The wort temperature was around 17 degrees C which was a little low. I put a heat belt on it and moved on with other tasks.
On Monday morning I looked in on it to see what the state of play was, and it had finally taken off, and I mean taken off. It was like Uncle Stanley after a double dose of Viagra; it was beyond the point of no return!
I've read that temperature for WLP072 is a bit like a ladies knickers: once up, don't let it drop. With this in mind I realised that I'd started an experiment with the WLP072: I'm going to find out what happens when you ferment it hot, because the wort is currently sitting at 28 degrees C!
The upper optimum temperature is 23 degrees C so I think I've gone beyond the fruity ester point. Remembering the advice to not drop temperature on the yeast, I'm going to let it have its head and if there are issues I'll be relying on the Melange to clean it up.
Once the French Ale yeast has done its thing I'll be adding the Melange. The options are to ferment hot for increased sourness or cool to boost the funk. I was going with the latter option, but might change my mind depending upon the outcome of the French Ale's behaviour when hot!
As the Melange isn't going in until secondary, I'll see what effect the 'experiment' has.
I opted for a malty wort, mashed at 68 degrees C in order to get some unfermentables in there. The plan is to hit it with WLP072 French Ale for primary to get the simple sugars sorted, save the yeast for another brew, transfer to secondary with Yeast Bay Melange and then let the bugs and bacteria work over the beer until next Spring.
Here's the brewsheet...
The French Ale strain is reputedly a clean fermenter used for Bierre de Garde and the like. I have read that if fermented warm, it develops some fruity esters. As a result I decided to go a bit warm with the yeast.
On Friday afternoon I made up a starter with the WLP072 and left the stirplate running over night. The yeast had that nice bready smell, and when the sheep farmer from next door popped in to blag a free beer (his wife thinks he doesn't drink any more) he mentioned that the brewery smelled more like a bakery!
On Saturday morning I noted that the starter looked dead. There was no froth, no foam, no signs of life at all. I cranked up the speed of the stirplate and carried on with the brew day as planned.
When it came to pitching tim,e the starter still looked a little dead. Like my Uncle Stanley's manhood, no amount of agitation was going to get it working. Despite this I chucked it in the Chronical and let it do it's thing, which turned out to be nothing when I checked it on the Sunday. The wort temperature was around 17 degrees C which was a little low. I put a heat belt on it and moved on with other tasks.
On Monday morning I looked in on it to see what the state of play was, and it had finally taken off, and I mean taken off. It was like Uncle Stanley after a double dose of Viagra; it was beyond the point of no return!
I've read that temperature for WLP072 is a bit like a ladies knickers: once up, don't let it drop. With this in mind I realised that I'd started an experiment with the WLP072: I'm going to find out what happens when you ferment it hot, because the wort is currently sitting at 28 degrees C!
The upper optimum temperature is 23 degrees C so I think I've gone beyond the fruity ester point. Remembering the advice to not drop temperature on the yeast, I'm going to let it have its head and if there are issues I'll be relying on the Melange to clean it up.
Once the French Ale yeast has done its thing I'll be adding the Melange. The options are to ferment hot for increased sourness or cool to boost the funk. I was going with the latter option, but might change my mind depending upon the outcome of the French Ale's behaviour when hot!
As the Melange isn't going in until secondary, I'll see what effect the 'experiment' has.
